


On Candled Woes and Cemetery Don’ts

by Sanoiro



Category: Lucifer (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Humour, Romance, Set on 25th January 2018, Two-Year Anniversary
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 16:22:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13505253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sanoiro/pseuds/Sanoiro
Summary: What  Marcus, Chloe and Linda are doing at a cemetery long after midnight on the 25th of January? Where is Lucifer?An unconventional Deckerstar one-shot. My Two-Year Anniversary story for Lucifer.





	On Candled Woes and Cemetery Don’ts

**Author's Note:**

> This is the Second Anniversary One-shot I wrote for Lucifer. The Pilot was aired on the 25th of January, 2016. The First-Year Anniversary fic is called 'It Has Been A Year'. 
> 
> Just enjoy it for what it is.

Song Used for this Entry:

[You Are The Reason - Calum Scott](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcC5VGOx8I8)

* * *

 

 

**On Candled Woes and Cemetery Don’ts**

 

The sun had set hours ago. Between the odd loud frog croaking from the nearby pond and the crackling of the bare branches against the wind, the place held a pious silence. Cemeteries were supposed to be quiet and unapproachable to the public at this late hour. That was simply the furthest from the truth. 

The winter chill had gripped everyone in the car hours ago as they had settled to a quiet stakeout, hidden behind the artistically trimmed shrubbery.

Drumming her light coloured polished nails on the leather seat, Linda hummed a random tune softly while she stole glances at the two Detectives at the front of the car. Whenever she spent more than the appropriate time staring at him, Marcus would fleetingly look at her in the rear-view mirror making her slightly cower in her seat. She was not proud of it but her self-preservation had been a priority where immortals were involved. 

“Remind me why I’m here again?” She asked the woman in front of her, avoiding the man’s eyes entirely.

Marcus identity still made her apprehensive. Oddly enough this was completely different from learning how right Lucifer’s words were or how vengeful divinity could be. As a scholar on human behaviour and development, she supposed a human, the immortal first murderer left aside, was viewed by her as more threatening than any mystical object or celestial being could ever be.

She had seen more darkness and murderous resolution in her human patients than the Devil himself thus Marcus was blasting her ears off by ringing every danger bell she had ever set up mentally as she built her career.

“You’ve treated them both Doctor, and one of them walks around with a stolen identity,” Chloe informed her once again for the evening, never taking her eyes from the thick nighttime shade.

“He had come with high-end references.” Linda lamented wondering if she should eventually take Lucifer’s offer for a more thorough background check on her new patients.

Treating a man who wanted her as a bait in order to murder one of her most high-profile patients would plummet her reputation if it got out. So she had caved and agreed to this late night stakeout, flat shoes recommended just in case she had to run from the suspect or the blue-eyed man at the driver’s seat.

“We need a witness present to charge him at least for fraud and identity theft before he gets to dig out poor Mrs Clansy out.” The woman in the seat in front her supplied absently, when the roof of the car was illuminated briefly by Chloe checking her phone for the fourth time in the past five minutes.

“Are you sure you will manage to get the judge to sign the excavation order tomorrow?” Linda asked casually.

Marcus snorted crossing his hands, muscles flexing in the process. The psychologist waited for the woman's reaction as Linda assessed on whether Lucifer’s suspicions, over Chloe’s newfound attraction to Cain, were correct.

The car was illuminated again with two pairs of eyes looking at the owner of the phone. Chloe appeared to be distracted once again and with Lucifer’s absence that was normal Linda supposed. He tended to disappear, and Chloe seemed to be still leaning towards his presence and more importantly towards his absence.

“What?” The Detective asked noticing the man beside her staring. His eyes were gentle in an unspoken understanding. Shaking his head, Marcus settled back to his seat, reverting his attention back to the empty of anything _living_ above the ground space.

It was close to four in the morning when a dark figure appeared in the distance. The confident stepping was a far cry from Douglas’ hesitant walking, nevertheless, the figure shared his tall and lean built as it approached the fresh grave of Mrs Clansy with a set resolution.

“Stay put Decker, let him sweat a bit first,” Marcus instructed retrieving his large black binoculars.

Linda had seen earlier the fading edges on the leather as well as signs of extended use on the binoculars. Perhaps it was the only object that could betray that its owner was much older than the sturdy built in the 50’s object.

The clinkering sound of digging tools was never heard. The man set two large white bags in the middle of the clearing while he looked around at his surroundings.

The scratching sound of metal echoed and a flashing spark turned to a single flame. Enclosing the lighter with his cupped hand, the man set it close to his face before lighting the hanging from his mouth, cigarette.

“That’s not Douglas.” Chloe murmured fingers blindly searching for the handle of the door.

“No, he is not…” Marcus agreed, taking a peek through his binoculars as he rested a hand on Chloe’s side to prevent her from racing down to the middle of the graveyard.

“Is that?” Bringing herself between the equally baffled detectives, Linda watched as Lucifer drew a lungful of smoke making the tobacco's lurid red glow flare ominously in the deep of the night.

Standing still, Lucifer appeared unaffected by the chill while he enjoyed the solitude. Occasionally he would raise his head to look at the few shining stars in L.A.’s foggy air before he took another drag from his fag.

When the smoke’s fire went out, the arcane celestial ignited his lighter again. There was no cigarette to show, even from afar, the tranquillity in Lucifer’s unmarred by worry facial features but a dull white, grave lantern. It was the cheap kind you would see around often on Memorial Day but adequate to its initial purpose. Remembrance.

More plastic patterns appeared from the bags. One by one the lanterns were lightened with care until the candlewick had taken a hold on the melting wax. Then Lucifer would set it on the wet by the humidity grass and presented yet another one from one the plastic bags. The process was almost endless, mesmerising even, with the purpose of the trio's presence now long forgotten.

When Lucifer finally was satisfied by his work, Linda finally saw something divine oozing from his meticulous movements. It was something that was lacking from the simple presentation of his angelic white wings a few months ago. Surrounded by several dozens of glimmering flames, Lucifer took off his jacket and threw it on top the now empty bags.

“What is he doing?” Chloe whispered leaning forward, fingers clawing the thin material of her blouse for what Linda knew was tucked underneath.

“He pays his respects.” The Lieutenant said naturally using his binoculars to inspect the rest of the area.

Studying the sober man, Linda tapped her wrist considering what immortality meant for an Angel who had taken the time to visit and understand up to an obscure point, humanity. She would always claim that Lucifer had a good heart and a good head on his shoulders. Alas, he missed the admittance and perhaps the realisation that there was a piece of humanity somewhere deep in his celestial soul.

Marcus on the other hand, born into mankind had seemingly surrendered his humanity a long time ago, yet only recently he was showing signs of struggle as he tried to reconnect with it. The understanding of loss through time. The experience and the grief of waiting for an end that was never about to come. That was what the psychologist could only connect with her experience on Lucifer’s long existence.

Linda hoped she could say the same for Amenadiel as well in parallel to Marcus, but he had only now started dipping his toes on what a brief lifetime’s impact was. His only losses were Uriel and his Mother. A subject they had never touched during their unofficial sessions or their newfound relationship. Not that he had ever been willing to open up and discuss them that is.

“This is the Forever Cemetery to whom he would pay his respects at this hour?” Both women shared the question with only the most emotionally involved daring to voice it.

The enthralling sight of Lucifer cradling candles around the crosses, tombs and obelisks while pausing for a while, setting a light down, touching lightly the cold granite and finally moving on to the next was heartbreakingly baffling.

“It means something to him so let him be. Douglas is too desperate not to attempt something tonight. Lucifer roaming around or not.” Marcus tried to pacify Chloe despite obviously knowing she was inquiring about her partner on a whole different level.

“They are so many.” The knot at the base of her throat made her voice croak as the realisation of how deep the pain flowed for Lucifer.

It was no longer about being kicked out from Heaven. Lucifer was cursed to walk on Hell and Earth knowing that whatever good and pure he came across it would be fleeting and eventually lost. The same she supposed had happened to the imperishable man next to her whose jaw locked before clearing his throat.

“In lives such as Lucifer’s, this is but a tiny fraction.” The man mournfully acknowledged keenly looking at a lost on Lucifer’s actions, Chloe.

His movements were curt and methodica,l burdened with the weight of time that had remained unchanged for the Fallen Angel. The burning tokens were left with care on each tomb filled with the remains of memories. Now and then, however, Lucifer would linger.

Sometimes he would lighten a cigarette before he let it fall on the wet grass, sometimes he would sprinkle some of his valuable liquor stash from his gleaming in the moonlight, silver flask. The content seemed endless as he took a sip after sip, packs of cigarettes were lightened the one after the other until the cemetery was faintly illuminated by the scattered burning candlelights.

The sharp assault of the fullness the humid air carried, hit Linda’s nostril’s along with the sweetness of hard liquor and aromatic tobacco. Distinctiveness from another era engulfed her. A pipe’s strong crawling aroma at her grandfather’s porch in the afternoon long ago. The silence of written words in her doctorate's supervisor office. The eighty-four-year-old widower, a living relic of Hollywood’s golden days who graced her office more for talk than a session every Wednesday.

The car door was left open, an unwelcome entrance to the late January frigidity. The young woman walked in the shadows tailing Lucifer in his Sisyphean task. It was then when the air shifted, dropping a stillness in the open field. The flames flickered on cue making their igniter pause and look around.

“There is a pull there. Lucifer knows she is there although he is ignorant of her actual physical presence.” Marcus noted stretching to close soundlessly the car’s door.

“They are connected in ways that are bound to cause more familial drama in the future.” Linda sighed tracing the last branding remains she had on her flesh after finding herself in the middle of the said divine familial drama.

“Hell’s punishment was not banning him from Heaven it was his eternal isolation.” The bitterness eternity had seeped through him had Linda wonder how long it would take until one more ageless being ended on her couch.

“Until now.” She noted watching the pair, a match literary made in Heaven, gravitating step by step closer to each other.

“Yeah… Until now. Heads will turn, feathers will unfurl. She is special that one.” Marcus admitted eyes slitting at how close Chloe was getting to a preoccupied Lucifer.

Linda was captivated by the meandering course Lucifer was leading Chloe in the dark. How awareness was not needed for their consideration to each other’s pace that they had fallen into, like the rising and falling tide. Unexpected yet natural, effortless but to the typical spectator, overwhelming.

The winsome sight was disturbed by Marcus’ low growl as he turned his binoculars to the far end of the clearing. Whoever it was, with high betting stakes on Douglas, was prowling Lucifer oblivious of Chloe or the occupants in the car.

A spade was slowly raised as a man of nearly the same height as Lucifer stalked him from behind. Chloe had already pulled her gun ready to take him down than endanger her unsuspecting partner. Advancing quickly towards the bent on a grave Lucifer, Chloe fixed her gun on the moving target. The only undisturbed by the scene was Marcus, yet Linda could see his fingers trailing upwards in search for his service handgun.

Whereas Lucifer had yet to locate Chloe, he ducked the incoming attack smoothly. A striking smack was heard of bone colliding with metal when the spade found its way into Lucifer’s juggling hands. Arching in full height over the flat on the ground body, the always impeccably dressed man, threw the garden tool away and fixed his vest.

“Well, now you certainly have enough time until the judge signs the excavation order.” Linda pointed hiding a broad smile behind her hand.

“Trust the Devil to unknowingly help us solve yet another case. I admit I liked this hands-on approach of divinity this time.” Marcus appraised Lucifer’s approach as the tall man turned towards the place where a still well-hidden Chloe was, evaluating on whether Lucifer needed a helping hand.

Linda supposed she should have known when he flashed the Detective a smug winning smile and disappeared at the blink of an eye. He had known all along. Lucifer was no longer taking any chances where Chloe’s safety was concerned.

The pair got out of the car and walked downhill to meet a twirling for a glimpse of Lucifer, Chloe before she gave up and settled on watching over the unconscious Douglas.

“Detective Decker I believe it’s time to call it a night.” Marcus broke it to her gently as he winced over Douglas' obviously broken nose.

“Has it been already two years? It feels like so many more have passed.” The woman muttered, arms hugging her torso, eyes firmly set on the simple white marble gravestone.

There was no cheaply lightened candle to reveal the relatively recent engraved letters. A white rose was deemed to be sufficient instead, and it was. Symbolising purity, youth, a soul that Lucifer was bound to never see again despite Delilah's rumblings over having sold the said soul to the Devil, it was now not to be found behind any of the doors of Hell. The commissioned words, painted golden were a proof enough.

_‘Pray you never hear the tone-deaf Raffael saranete.’_

Lucifer’s choice of words no doubt.

The Doctor paid her respects to her former patient while never leaving from her sight Chloe’s figure as she strolled in between the other occupants of the graveyard.

“I’m glad to know you are indeed somewhere... Somewhere good even and _happy_.” Linda murmured with a newfound faith that the world was not black or white not even grey as many claimed.

The colourfulness was blinding.

The young woman with the God-touched past not far from Linda tended the dangerously flickering candles. She was taking the time to read each and every name that had made her partner feel emotionally close to them and uttered a soft thanks over and over again at every lightened stone. It was meaningless but to her partner and that was enough for the usually laconic in words Detective.  

As Linda could have told her, there was no pattern, no tilting scale. Women, men, religion, age, time of death was irrelevant. The only common connection was the dedicated time Lucifer had taken to lighten a candle and perhaps a brief, one-sided exchange before he moved to the next tombstone a while ago.

“Just put a good word for him. For them. They have wandered way too far. So far that I think it’s time. Their time.” Linda sighed with a sad, crooked grin at Chloe’s dedication to make sure Lucifer’s work tonight was still burning strong.

She lightly touched the unsurprisingly absent from grim or dust stone and shook her head at Marcus’ questioning eyes. Their suspect was still unconscious, and from the looks of it, he would be for a long while. Long enough for Linda and Marcus to follow Chloe in Lucifer’s set trail of remembrance and respect to the ones who had long departed.

Who knew? Linda mused. Perhaps after two years, the receivers of the Lightbringer's attention tonight would back Delilah on that good word and in favour of the Devil’s long-suffering romance.

 

**The End**

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> Originally I wanted to gift this to many people. Namely Navaros, Ship, Sandra, Kanshou87, csulliven, cs-aura-fluffer, isk12-blog, morganeveningstar, theshipperman, pellaaearien, skaoi, antartic-echos and so many others. 
> 
> I decided eventually not to do that as I didn't want any forced attention to this story.


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